An Idle Job
by dawnsama
Summary: IYFruitsBasketNaruto mega Xover postNaraku. While waiting for time to catch up with Kagome's present, Inuyasha takes a job at the Sohma estate. Following the orders of the Fifth, Kakashi takes a job too, but only because something's weird about Sohma's.
1. Security

**A very important author's note: **I'm writing this triple crossover (yeah, triple) for the livejournal community thebwg crossover challenge, which is also a contest. I would love it if you all also checked out the other entries in the contest. There are only two others: Fieryfaerie86 and Quirkyslayer, two very wonderful writers I might add. I've put up links to their fics on my biopage.

**An Idle Job**

Chapter 1: Security

_Man with one chopstick go hungry._

– _Chinese proverb, annonymous_

The first century after the completion of the Shikon no Tama was a fitful mess of impatience.

During the second century, the impatience steamed and bubbled to such a point that it exploded and became nothing.

This nothing became resignation by the third century, and then trickled quietly into boredom after that. Incidentally, Inuyasha also started the process of completely assimilating into the human world during this century, purchasing a charm to hide his youkai features from a miko. It wasn't hard to blend in after that.

All in all, Inuyasha supposed he could be doing worse things than waiting for Japan to reach the end of the twentieth century so he could see Kagome again. He could be dead, for one, which meant he would have had to wait even longer. But then again, death didn't mean much to him. He had tried to slice his wrists some time during the eighteenth century, but gave up when the wounds kept healing. And in truth, the task of seeing Kagome's smiling face was more of a checkpoint than anything else.

It was all very nice and easy for Kagome to shout "Wait for me!" at him when the well took her back, but she hadn't taken into account that it was mere days of separation for her, and a much greater length of time for him. Kagome had forgotten what time could do to you, forgotten that it washed against mind and emotions until they ebbed away into space. In time, Inuyasha could still vaguely remember that at one point, he had held Kagome in a certain place in his heart, but he wasn't sure if she was still there anymore.

But the promised meeting in the future gave him a purpose, a boundary to the endless territory of his life. All Inuyasha needed to do was concentrate on that boundary, and what came beyond it would be dealt with when the time came.

So Inuyasha didn't think much of his new job when he applied for it, nor did he make much of the fact that he was, according to his hazy approximations, only one year away from seeing Kagome again. When it was time, it would be a simple matter to drop it and go see her. And the job was a mere security guard position for some big family estate.

Inuyasha had never even heard of the family's name before. Sohma, some high and mighty clan who didn't have much faith in their fences and walls for protection and stooped down to the common people for their security.

"You're lucky, you know," his interviewer had told him. "Usually, we'd hire people from the family, but you slipped through the cracks. This may be the first time an outsider lived in the Sohma estate in… Well, it's never happened before."

Which meant, Inuyasha figured, that they usually scraped at the bottom of the family rungs for jobs like this, rather than at the rungs of society. Apparently, the Sohmas would rather entrust their safety to the hands of strangers than of their own, which was just fine with him. They had given him a job after all, a way to pass the time.

And so, Inuyasha packed the few things he owned and reported to the gate of the Sohma estate early in the morning.

There was another man standing at the gate when he arrived. An eye-patched, masked, silver-haired face glanced up at him as he approached, and they nodded warily to each other. Inuyasha wasn't surprised to see him. The Sohma estate had a lot of ground to cover anyway.

"I knocked on the door already," the man said, voice clean despite the mask. "Here as a guard?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha answered.

They examined at each other, Inuyasha taking in the man's baggy blue pants, green vest, and gloved hands, the man taking in his white hair tied at the back, ragged jeans, and leather jacket. He was taller than Inuyasha by at least half a head, and the one eye that showed could keep up a stare just as long as Inuyasha's two could.

The man suddenly blinked, as though the mutual eying from a few seconds ago hadn't happened. He extended a hand and Inuyasha took it with a firm grasp.

"Hatake Kakashi," he introduced himself. "Just Kakashi is fine."

"Inuyasha." He didn't remember what his current surname was, so he left it at that.

The gate opened as they dropped their hands and a bowing, stone-faced lady showed them in.

"Hatake Kakashi and Takamura Inuyasha?" she asked.

Oh. So that was his surname. He had gone through so many over the centuries that it was hard to keep track. Inuyasha concentrated on remembering it. Takamura. Takamura…

Kakashi nodded and that seemed to be enough for her.

"Welcome to the Sohma estate. Please follow me," she told them.

She led them up a road lined with trees and houses on the side. Inuyasha scanned the road ahead and, behind her back, smirked at the bigger, more majestic house sitting on its ass at the road end. Perhaps that house was his guarding post?

But the stone-faced lady stopped about a third of a way down and led them into a house, where they were handed off to an equally stone-faced man, except bigger around the middle and sporting a wormlike mustache.

He slitted his eyes and peered at them as they stood before him.

"Well, you seem to be same men as you were during the interview, or you look like the pictures I was sent in any case," he remarked. "Welcome to the Sohma estate and the first day to your guard duty. You both know each other already? Doesn't matter. You're partners so you will eventually. Maya here will show you to your rooms where you may drop off your things. You will start immediately afterward."

He waved vaguely and Maya, the woman from before, reappeared at his elbow.

"Pardon me," Kakashi asked softly, "But how will we address you? I assume that you are our commander?"

He laughed. "Silly of me to dismiss you without giving you any details, isn't it? But forgive me for not releasing everything at once. My name is Sohma Hiko, and I give you the instructions. Before you ask, just Hiko-san is fine. That's all you need to know for now. Do your job right, and you won't need to know much more."

Inuyasha frowned at this, but Kakashi merely shrugged.

"But exactly are we guarding the estate from, Hiko-san? Surely you will tell us that."

A corner of Hiko's lip quirked, making his mustache curve and look more like a worm than ever.

"I was going to let you discover the paper instructions on your own, but I suppose I'll tell you about it then, shall I? You'll find all you need to know in your rooms. Now if you would please…"

Inuyasha ignored Hiko's shooing motions and said, "I wasn't told that I would have a partner."

It had been a while since Inuyasha had needed to work with another person. He preferred solo work to partnerships. After all, when you had a partner, you had to watch out for each other. As if he didn't have enough trouble looking after himself. The time he had cared enough to care for others had shriveled up centuries ago.

Inuyasha was pretty sure he didn't need it.

Hiko reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and puffed mightily on it before answering.

"Why do we have to tell you such trivial things?" he huffed. "Is this how you young people think it's done these days? You can't do things right unless there's someone there to correct you, you know. That's why you work in pairs. Do you think the Sohmas can be protected by just one guard at a time?"

He looked at Maya and shook his head. She made no response.

"No, with just one guard, the entire estate will lack protection. What happens if that one guard goes down? It doesn't matter how strong you are. If someone can take you down, it'll be short work on the people. So, Takamura-kun, I don't care if you have 'people problems' as you youngsters call it these days. You will be working with Hatake-kun, and that's that. You are both the chopsticks of the Sohmas' hand, feeding them protection and assurance of their safety. And now that I've given you this speech, _now _will you leave me alone?"

Oh, so he was Takamura-kun now, was he?

Inuyasha pierced his mouth and followed Maya through hallways and turns. Their rooms were right across from each other and they were to share the same bathroom. She gave them fifteen minutes to accustom themselves to their rooms and to put on the uniform, which, she said, would be on the bed.

The term "bed" was relative apparently, for it wasn't much more than a cot. But it didn't collapse when Inuyasha experimentally stretched out on it, his feet propped on the folded uniform, so that was okay. A single sheet of instructions was placed between the dark blue pants and jacket of the suit making of the uniform.

Inuyasha dug out the paper and picked it up with his toes. He squinted at it.

"'Prevent outsiders from entering the estate,' well I already knew that," he mumbled to himself.

Inuyasha skimmed the rest of the instructions, stopped at the last line on the paper, and stared.

"'Don't hug or embrace anyone'?"


	2. Investigation

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A VERY LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE. Skip it if you know the character Kakashi and the series Naruto fairly well.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the animanga Naruto, here's a quick spiel on what you probably need to know in order to understand this fic.

The term **chakra**refers to the spiritual and body energy circulating in a ninja's cells. Think of it as chi if you like. They use chakra to execute techniques. There is a circulatory system of chakra in the body and this system serves to transport chakra to different openings in the body when needed.

A **seal**in a sign formed by the hands, and different successions of seals make up different ninja techniques.

The character **Hatake Kakashi**(surname than given name) is a twenty/thirty something year old elite ninja from the Hidden Ninja Village of Konoha, whose symbol is the leaf. He has the status of a **Jounin** ninja, the highest rank. He covers his left eye with his Konoha forehead protector (worn or carried by all ninja), which in this fic I have done away with for reasons explained in this chapter.

Kakashi is a particularly famous ninja because his left eye is a **Sharingan** eye, which has the ability to see through disguises (and do other handy things like that) and can actually see lines of chakra in the body. Most importantly, it gives its owner the ability to copy another ninja's technique just by watching it once. Thus, possessing the Sharingan Eye is very handy for a ninja, as well as a powerful advantage.

However, the Sharingan comes from a genetic trait specific to only one of the ninja families, the Uchiha clan, of which Kakashi is not a member of, making his particular Sharingan very unusual. (The story of how he got his Sharingan is really touching actually.) Because of his Sharingan, Kakashi is well known as the "Copy Ninja." But even without his Sharingan, Kakashi is still a powerful ninja in his own right, and one of the best of Konoha.

Another thing to note about Kakashi is his favorite novel series. This is relevant, I swear. Often, one can find Kakashi with his nose buried in the latest edition of **Ichi Ichi Paradise**, a series of romantic excursions of the physical kind (read: porn). This is perhaps the most important thing one must know about Hatake Kakashi. Okay, maybe it isn't, but it's pretty close.

Things that aren't necessary to know in order to understand Kakashi's character but may or may not be useful to understand this chapter:

**Hokage **is the highest ranking level of a ninja village. The Hokage is the leader, and most powerful. All ninja report to him or her. The current leader is **Tsunade**, known as the Fifth Hokage or just simply the Fifth.

**Genin** are the lowest ranking ninja, the level ninjas receive right out of school.

Chapter 2: Investigation

"You may enter," Kakashi solemnly told a mother and child as they returned from grocery shopping.

He and Inuyasha were posted at the gate of the main house of the Sohma estate today. Currently, Kakashi watched the comings and goings of the gate while Inuyasha glared at him from the corners of his eyes.

Kakashi allowed himself some amusement. For the past week, Inuyasha couldn't seem to stop staring at his eye patch. Yet, it was clear that the guy couldn't bring himself to ask about it as well. It was as though he were determined to torture his own curiosity.

By now, Kakashi was accustomed to the attention his eye patch brought. In fact, he, himself, found it unusual. He hadn't realized just how big a part his Konoha forehead protector was to him. Just one day of the eye patch had him pining silently for it. It just wasn't the same. The thin cord of the eye patch was a far cry from the strip of cloth he was accustomed to. It didn't have the same stability and firmness as the forehead protector. Plus, it was elastic. Kakashi wasn't sure how much he trusted elastic, unless it happened to be present in things such as women's lingerie, and even then, only if it came up in the latest edition of Ichi Ichi Paradise. Elastic wore out after a while, whereas with cloth, one only had to secure it tighter when needed.

But Kakashi had enough self-discipline to withstand it. After all, his forehead protector, the sign of his status as a Jounin level ninja, meant nothing in this part of the country. It was best not to bring attention to it then. He had no choice, really. Just because the people here didn't know about chakra didn't mean he could risk exposing his Sharingan eye.

"There have been reports of sudden swells of chakra beyond the hidden villages," the Fifth Hokage Tsunade had told him. "And when I say beyond, I mean it. We've detected these rushes off the maps."

"I see," Kakashi had replied gravely.

"Even the genin can feel it," Tsunade continued. "And if they can, doubtless our enemies have already begun investigating the source of such chakra. We can not risk the chance of allowing a potential source of chakra get into their hands. I understand that you already have a lot of work on your shoulders, but frankly, I don't know who else is capable enough to send out who's not already busy. I would have sent a Hyouga instead, but they're all off on missions."

Kakashi had already guessed what his next mission would be before he had stepped into the Fifth's office, but he waited for her to finish.

"Your next assignment is a solo mission: travel down to these areas of vast fluxes of chakra and investigate. Report back with those chakra dogs of yours as often as possible." Tsunade leaned back in her chair and downed a quick cup of sake. "Don't worry about your students," she assured him. "They will continue their training with others."

At the time, Kakashi had thought to himself that this mission was a great disservice to his students: obviously, they would not receive the same quality of education and training with another Jounin as they would with him. But it couldn't be helped. The Hokage's word was final.

Kakashi found the land beyond the ninja lands bewildering, in that where the boundary between them really was the place where all traces of ninjas ended. The moment he had stepped off the mountains separating the two places, Kakashi had lost all sense of chakra. He could barely even feel it in his own body, and only a day of rest and meditation brought back the usual, comforting sensation of chakra running through his veins.

Well, almost all sensation. There was still that prickling of chakra dancing in the back of his skull, the sudden bursts of chakra that worried the Hokage so much back home.

With the absence chakra in this world, it was laughably easy to identify the location of these bursts. The Sohma estate didn't even try to hide itself. To Kakashi's practiced eye, it was as though the Sohmas were flaunting their appalling amounts of chakra.

Dutifully, Kakashi had sent off Pakkun, that cynical but loyal furball of a dog, back to Tsunade with his discoveries. The Fifth, however, was not finished with him.

"She wants you to infiltrate the compound," Pakkun had reported, scratching at an ear with a toe. "She says it's not enough that you know where the chakra is, but _who _has the chakra, and how many of them, and other troublesome things like that. She also wants me to tell you that she shouldn't have to tell you these things and that you're getting old," he added, just before he vanished with a pop.

Again, the Sohma's made his job pathetically easy. Kakashi had observed the estate for a few days, as well the community around it, and made some preparations. He purchased an eye patch, using some coins with a few illusionary seals cast on them to look like this nation's currency. Then he applied for the guard job and sailed through the interview. Even better, the majority of the time he and Inuyasha were posted outside the main house, the place he felt the most chakra. Kakashi suspected that the eye patch and his face mask had been more convincing than his hastily put together resume, but then, he was grateful for the Sohmas for providing him so many conveniences.

"Hey," Inuyasha called slowly from the other side of the gate.

Kakashi flicked his glance over. "Yes?"

Instead of responding, Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at him.

Presently, it was one of the slow days. Other than the mother and daughter, it seemed that the elite of the Sohmas had all decided to stay at home for the day, leaving their newly appointed guards with no one to watch.

Kakashi took the opportunity to gaze back at him, holding the staring competition. In actuality, Kakashi was observing Inuyasha's chakra lines, of which there was an almost obscene amount. Ruefully, he admitted to himself that Inuyasha's body contained more chakra than he himself, perhaps even as much as his student Naruto. There were the same wild, almost uncontrolled movements of chakra, that inhuman supply that Naruto only had because of the Kyuubi trapped inside. If Naruto needed a demon within his belly to reach that level of chakra, what supernatural force did Inuyasha have?

"I've just been wondering…" Inuyasha started after a minute of staring.

"Yes?" Kakashi wondered if Inuyasha had finally gotten over his gruntled shyness. He had already prepared a plausible excuse for the eye patch, and Kakashi found himself vaguely eager to use it for the first time.

"What's with the mask?" Inuyasha brushed his cheek to indicate. "Are you hiding scars or something?"

Well. Kakashi didn't have a handy answer for that. Nobody back home had ever dared ask him about his mask.

Kakashi leaned against the gate wall, crossing his arms over his vest, and looked up at the clouds as he pondered an answer.

"An accident in my childhood," he decided. "It didn't disfigure my face too horribly, but it was enough to get me into habit of wearing a mask."

"A habit? So you don't necessarily need to hide your face anymore?" Inuyasha cracked a few knuckles and stretched. "Well, I understand the need to hide. There was a time when I would have given anything to wear a mask."

Kakashi looked down from the sky and raised an eyebrow at him, but their peace was interrupted before he could answer.

"My, my, since when did we have such funny-looking guards?"

Inuyasha snapped to attention, brows knit together in scowl. Kakashi merely rotated his neck until there was a crack.

The current potential intruder laughed merrily, tapping his chin with a fan. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes as the character "dog" flashed with every tap on the fan.

Kakashi thought amusedly to himself that the "funny-looking" part was rather rich coming from this guy. The intruder's company included a rather disgruntled bunch of two teenagers, one with silver hair and purple eyes and another with orange hair and eyes.

The intruder was still giggling. "Obviously you've been kept out here in the sun for so long that your hair aged instantly. What on earth is Akito-san thinking, doing such a thing to his protectors?"

"My hair color is natural, actually," Kakashi remarked for no particular reason.

"Of course, of course," the intruder relented, waving his fan. "I was merely shocked that I missed such a new employment. Usually I'm up to date with the family's business, being a very important member of the Sohma's myself. Aren't I, Yuki-kun? Kyou-kun?"

The two boys, Yuki and Kyou, Kakashi assumed, didn't reply. Orange Hair scowled and crossed his arms while Silver Hair merely stared into the gate.

Inuyasha, trying very hard not to glower at the man, gritted his teeth and said, "That's very nice. Go on in."

But the intruder seemed disappointed by the lack of response from his companions. "Why are you both so sullen today? Aren't you at least going to greet the guards? They're just mad about visiting the main house today," he explained to the guards, for no apparent reason that Kakashi could see. "They _like _living away from home, these two."

"This isn't my home, Shigure," Orange hair suddenly snapped.

In the silence that followed, the intruder, apparently named Shigure, gaped dramatically. "So you haven't forgotten how to speak! Good for you!"

Kakashi observed as the twitch on Inuyasha's right mouth convulsed. "Are you all going in or are you just going to stand there?" he snapped. "If you're not going to fucking enter, leave!"

Shigure pouted. "Akito sure picked some surly guards," he commented. "Come, Yuki, Kyonkichi."

"Don't call me that!"

When they had walked a suitable distance away from the gate, Inuyasha spat at the ground.

"Good riddance," he muttered. "Sheesh. The whole pack of this family is strange. How are we supposed to do our jobs if we have to fucking let in every crazy who calls himself a Sohma?"

Kakashi didn't reply. He was too preoccupied with watching Kyou, who hung at the back of the trio, and his receding back, as well as the quiet swirls of chakra lines zipping around his body. His Sharingan eye stretched open and observed through the eye patch as Yuki slumped behind Shigure and Yuki, noting the lights of chakra within them.

"There _is_ something about the Sohma's," commented Kakashi. "Something off."

"Those three particularly," Inuyasha said.

And then Inuyasha frowned, and if Kakashi hadn't happened to glance up at the right moment, he would have missed what Inuyasha did next. It was subtle, barely a movement, but Kakashi's already open Sharingan eye caught the slight wrinkle of Inuyasha's nose, a tiny flaring of the nostrils, the tilt of the chin lifting his nose into the air.

Inuyasha was sniffing the wind, Kakashi realized. Like a dog trying to catch a scent. Exactly like a dog, in fact.

The Sharingan swiveled to Inuyasha's chest and paused. Sure enough, a trail of glowing chakra zipped at the bridge of his nose.

"Indeed," Kakashi murmured, deciding that despite the wretched eye patch, he was glad that Tsunade had given him this mission. And he really needed to thank the Sohma's for one more thing: providing him an enigma to solve. Guarding could get boring after all.


	3. Mystery

READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE THANK YOU: This chapter contains explicit spoilers for Fruits Basket chapter 97, especially the one concerning the character Akito, the head of the Sohma family. Yes, _that_ spoiler. Sorry to spoil it for those who haven't gotten that far in the series. Those of you who _do_ know what spoiler I'm talking about, now you can make a very good guess about the events of this chapter.

Chapter 3: Mystery

_He couldn't stop the sentence. It said itself. It was out there, hanging in the air._

"_The Truth," by Terry Pratchett_

Inuyasha's hands lightly grasped the edge of the gate wall, feet dangling. He had been pretty bored during the morning and had spontaneously leapt up on the gate. It was actually pretty comfortable up here, and he had a great vantage point from high above. Although, people tended send bewildered stares at him more often than not as they passed through, but that was all right.

"Well, look who's coming out into the sun again," Inuyasha noted. He had spent enough time at the guard post to recognize little inconsistencies of this nature, like which Sohma went outside everyday, who only went out to buy groceries, who only went out when forced, little useless things like that. And he was accustomed enough to Kakashi's presence to voice those little useless things.

"For the third day in a row," Kakashi added, standing on the ground, leaning, his head a yard away from Inuyasha's hanging calves but still level with them.

They watched as the Sohma family head, Akito, stalked toward the gate, surrounded by a flurry of fawning attendants.

The surly, pinched in look on the family head made Inuyasha shifted in his seat and look more closely. Well, then again, Akito always seemed pissed off, with that pouting, childish grimace and sharp, narrowed eyes. But today, Akito was lashing out at the maids twittering about him, slapping one in the cheek and backhanding another in the jaw, blood sprinkling at his fingertips.

Hiko had mentioned to Inuyasha and Kakashi a few weeks ago, the second day of the job in fact, that Akito was often prone to violent displays akin to bloody tantrums. He warned them that although the chance that they would see such displays was small, in the event that they did witness them, they were not to interfere with Akito's aggressions. It was not their place, he told them, to get in the way of the family head's affairs and actions.

Inuyasha found it hard to follow those particular instructions. One of the beaten maids had begun to cry, but they still followed Akito, pulling at his arms.

"Akito-san, Akito-san!" they cried. "You mustn't go out today! You are not well, and Hatori-san insisted that you spend the day resting."

"To hell with Hatori! I'm going to do whatever the hell I want," Akito snarled. His breath wheezed haggardly, but he continued his brisk pace.

"But Akito-san—"

"Get out of my way!"

Inuyasha heard Kakashi heave a slow sigh as Akito yanked his arm out of their grasp, causing some of the maids to fall to the ground.

"Damn Hiko," Kakashi growled.

"Yeah," Inuyasha mumbled.

At one point during the centuries, Inuyasha spent a long, tedious period of watching others in pain, during the Second World War when he happened to stop in Hiroshima after the nuclear bomb dropped, and he had developed a numbed, desensitized state as a reaction, which he tried to tap into as another maid began to sob. It was difficult though, even during the war. Inuyasha had enough self-discipline to check himself from potentially job-threatening actions, such as leaping off from the gate and grabbing Akito's arms and shoving his knee at the family head's crotch, as he felt like doing. But he hadn't made his heart stone enough to not sympathize with the maids as Akito kicked at them. That, in itself, was enough for Inuyasha to feel guilt, too much guilt, and he didn't like it one bit.

To compensate, Inuyasha flared his nostrils and sniffed for the current of scent whiffed from Akito's direction, just to see if his scent would give any clue as to his anger. Inuyasha knew it wasn't enough to upside his guilt, but at least he was making an effort. Besides, Hiko had commanded them not to interfere, but he had never specified what kind of interference was restricted.

"Is something wrong?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing at all," Inuyasha replied. "Why?"

"It seems like there's something wrong with your nose."

Inuyasha shrugged and continued sorting through the various currents whispering at his nose. The thought that Kakashi had remarkably observant eyes flickered in his mind, but he discarded it for later contemplation.

Ah. Here it was. Inuyasha closed his eyes and took another breath and grabbed on to the scent.

His eyes flew open at what he found, and he inhaled again.

When his nose discovered the same thing, he leaned forward on the gate and _sniffed_.

It was ridiculous, not to mention just plain unbelievable. Inuyasha knew very well what women had to go through once every month. He'd sniffed it on Kagome often enough, as well as all the other women he had encountered over the centuries.

But that he would find this humid, sticky smell of blood on a _guy_ was just… well, it shouldn't happen. It _can't _happen. It wasn't physically possible. Men didn't spurt out blood from their lower regions every month.

His nose didn't lie, so Inuyasha pondered how he could possibly smell this.

One, the good ol' family head had a marvelously active night with some chick whose time of the month came a bit too soon and thought it was kinky and didn't wash it off. Not likely, and considering his current display of interaction with females, Inuyasha would be very shocked to hear of action Akito ever got.

Two, a girl had an accident in the bathroom and forgot to clean it, and Akito accidentally got it on him when he was taking a leak. Again, probably not, and even if just a little blood got on him, it wouldn't smell as potent and thick as it did.

The last option was the most logical and the most absurd at the same time:

Three, Akito was a woman.

On one hand, it made sense. Only women get periods, and Akito apparently just got it; thus Akito is a woman. Women also tended to – what was the modern phrase? – PMS during their periods, and if this wasn't a case of PMS behavior, then Inuyasha didn't know women. And considering the length of time he'd spent with Kagome, and then all the other casual encounters he'd had over the years, he did know women. To a degree, at least.

But on the other hand, if Akito was actually a woman, then why was she (he?) masquerading as a man? Why the effort? The Sohmas didn't appear to mistreat their female members, if you excluded the scene below.

Damn Sohmas for making life that much more confusing! Even the effort Inuyasha used to switch Akito from male to female in his mind was numbing.

Inuyasha sneezed and rubbed his nose as Akito completely shook off the maids and stomped past him and Kakashi. He (she?) stopped just outside the gate and turned to glower at them.

"What," she (he?) snapped, "The hell are you two looking at?"

Before either of them could reply, Akito glanced up and roared, "And what do you think you're doing up there, looking at the birds? I'm paying you to guard this forsaken place, not to admire the scenery!"

Inuyasha stared at Akito for a long moment before slowly climbing off the wall. He glanced slightly at Kakashi when his feet touched the ground, just to see what his reaction might be, but Kakashi merely regarded the family head with the patience and tolerance he did everybody.

"Get back to work, you bastards," Akito screeched, balls fisting.

"Yes Akito-san," Kakashi replied complacently. He crossed his arms languidly.

Spitting, Akito whirled around and left them with a growl. A car pulled up at the road and she (yes, a she) slammed the door closed as he climbed in.

Inuyasha shook his head ruefully. This was definitely the behavior of a menstruating female, all right.

"What a temper, huh?" he remarked to Kakashi.

Kakashi leaned against the wall, arms crossed, his one uncovered eye following the progress of the family head. His facial expression didn't appear any less calm than it usually was, but Inuyasha had observed his work partner enough to recognize the sharply concentrated tension between Kakashi's two brows, burrowed in thought.

"Something the matter?" Inuyasha prompted.

Kakashi swiveled his eye quickly around to Inuyasha, who tried not to double take at the speed. His chin tilted down, and he asked, with slight hesitation. "Did you know that Sohma Akito-san is actually a woman?"

Inuyasha blinked and arched an eyebrow. "So you noticed too? How did you know?"

"Acute observation, with my eyes to be exact."

Inuyasha rolled his own eyes. Apparently, Kakashi was capable of making jokes, albeit bad ones. "Sure. How did you _really _find out?"

Kakashi seemed to smirk underneath the mask covering his lower face. "How did _you_ know?"

A couple nights before, Inuyasha had considered telling Kakashi about his youkai heritage, just in case the situation in which he would need to use it ever arose so he would have to waste time explaining his hidden abilities. He had come to the conclusion that, however laidback Kakashi appeared, Inuyasha would need more time to decide if he was comfortable enough with Kakashi to share his secret and to determine if Kakashi was trustworthy enough.

"Followed my nose," Inuyasha answered innocently.

Kakashi blinked his one eye. Then, to Inuyasha's considerable surprise, he made raspy sounds that soon turned into heavy laughter.

Shrugging, after checking to see that Akito had really gone, Inuyasha hopped back onto the wall and settled in for another long, boring day of work.


End file.
